Rafael Nadal will always be the King of Clay, but we might have a new one in his absence as compatriot Carlos Alcaraz keeps dominating on the surface.
There will never be a player as dominant as Rafael Nadal on clay. It's quite easy to be confident in that assessment because it's just ridiculous if we look at his career.
He holds a career 517-55 record on the surface in all competitions. That's a 90 % win rate on clay in his career so far, and quite a few of those losses actually came pretty early in his career.
His first dominant year on the ATP Tour was in 2005, when he won his maiden Roland Garros. If we take his record from that year on, then he's 432-35, which is a 92 % win rate.
His French Open all-time record is 112-3, which is a 97 % win rate. That's just impossible, but here we are, and that's why he's the kind of clay officially.
He's not playing as much anymore and will likely retire sooner rather than later, so there is a gap to be filled. In his absence, it's actually Carlos Alcaraz who seems likely to take over because the Spaniard has been brutal on the surface since turning professional.
He's 130-31 all-time on the surface which is an 80 % win rate. Since his major breakout two years ago, Alcaraz is 53-7 on the surface, which is an 88 % win rate on the surface.
It's not as good as Nadal, but Nadal's record is just impossible. This is about as good as it can get because the 10 of 16 finals he played were on clay. He has a 7-3 record in those finals, which is pretty good.
So, with the number of trophies won on clay and the amount of matches won, it's pretty safe to say that Alcaraz is positioning himself as the king of clay in this generation of players.
On top of that, the Spaniard dominated clay tournaments in 2023. He has collected 2815 points, which is more than any of his rivals. The second most successful player on the red dirt in 2023 was Novak Djokovic, who has 500 points less than Alcaraz despite winning the Roland Garors.
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